


The Final Straw

by Emerald_Star



Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-09
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 12:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13318122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Star/pseuds/Emerald_Star
Summary: After having his soul gambled away, Mugman starts to question the morals of his brother. Did Cuphead even feel the slightest bit of remorse for his selfish actions? Was it really worth sticking around to find out?





	The Final Straw

“Well, what are you waiting for? Off you go!”

An encouraging farewell from Elder Kettle was enough to send the two brothers out the door. After losing their souls to the Devil himself, they hadn’t a clue of what they were about to go up against. Collecting the souls of almost an entire town _must’ve_ been one tall order. It never occured to either of them that so many people have dealt with the Devil, much less people that live so close to him; it must have been a small world.

Nonetheless, Cuphead was ready for whatever they had to throw at them. He’d made it _this_ far, so why cut the momentum short? Once you got him going, it was never easy to stop him, hence why he got into this whole gambling disaster in the first place. Cuphead had to supress of any doubt he may have had in the back of his mind and face the consequences head on. He took one last glance at the list of runaway debtors, taking a mental note of _The Root Pack_ , before putting it back in his pants pocket.

“Welp,” Cuphead took the first steps forward, “These soul contracts ain’t gonna catch themselves. C’mon, Mugs, we betta get goin’!”

Unlike his brother, Mugman lingered behind with a slight drag in his feet. Getting lost in his thoughts, he wondered how he got dragged into one of Cuphead’s biggest screw-ups of all time. Sure, he was pretty impulsive and thoughtless, always getting himself into _some_ kind of trouble, but Mugman would always find a way to clean up after his mess; why was _this_ time different? There were probably tons of things Mugman could’ve done differently to avoid getting tangled up in one of the Devil’s schemes.

Mugman could only think of ways he could’ve stopped him from the minute they wandered from home all the way to when Cuphead mindlessly accepted that challenge. At least he could take a little bit of pride in the fact that he never touched those dice. It wasn’t like Mugman didn’t try to stop him. If only Cuphead wasn’t blinded by riches and took his warnings seriously. _If only Cuphead thought for once in his stinkin’-_

“Hey, try and catch up, will ya?” Cuphead’s voice interrupts his train of thought.

“Huh? _Oh!”_ Mugman shakes his head in an attempt to refocus himself. Noticing how much farther ahead his brother was made him realize how far back he had been lagging this whole time. Embarrassed that he didn’t realize it sooner, Mugman pushed himself along to catch up to where he was. “I’m coming!”

Mugman made a conscious note not to hang his head too low or look to mopey; he wouldn’t want Cuphead to get worried or anything. In fact, he felt a little guilty about that last thought he had. Just because Cuphead was thoughtless doesn’t mean that he deserved to be in this situation. He didn’t deserve it any more than Mugman himself did, but nobody ever asked him what he wanted.

It just wasn’t fair, but did that ever matter? Did it matter to Cuphead? Did _Mugman_ matter to Cuphead? If he did, would he have bet Mugman’s soul along with his own _,_ all for the sake of hitting the jackpot? Wouldn’t he at least think twice before putting somebody else’s soul on the line, _especially_ when it was his own brother? Was Cuphead really someone worth sticking with through thick and thin, someone Mugman could trust out there on the battlefield, someone he wouldn’t mind risking his life for because he knew that Cuphead would do the same for him?

No.

_Not this time._

When Cuphead no longer heard the sound of Mugman’s footsteps, he had a feeling that something was wrong. He turned around to face Mugman, but he was almost refusing to make eye contact. With his gaze was directed to the sidelines and his hands clenched, Mugman was the perfect image of anxiety if Cuphead ever saw it. He walked back to try and consult his brother.

“Alright, quit messin’ around,” Cuphead said, a little more sincere this time around, “Did ya forget something? Do we need to go back?”

No response. Cuphead felt like he was talking to a brick wall. Mugman was never this unresponsive; it was really starting to bother him, but why did he have to choose _now_ of all times to get like this? Cuphead really wished he could help him, but they were only given one day to gather souls. They really couldn’t afford to loiter around. “There’s no time to lose! C’mon, Mugs, we gotta hurry before-”

“Whaddya mean _‘we?’_ ” Mugman snapped.

“ _We_ as in the two of- wait…” It was a bit of a delayed reaction; Cuphead was about to go off until he took a moment to realize what he was implying. It really caught him by surprise, considering that he never saw Mugman snap like that, much less at him. The shock had nearly rendered Cuphead speechless. How would anyone respond to something like that?

“Mugs...what’re you gettin’ at?”

“I…” Mugman wasn’t used to this type of confrontation, but he knew that it was something that he had to get over with. Otherwise, his frustration would build up to a point where he couldn’t control himself. “I-I don’t have to come with you, Cuphead. In fact...I think I’m gonna head home.” Mugman turned around and fled in the opposite direction. _So much for a confrontation,_ he thought to himself.

“Wait, what?” Cuphead ran over to Mugman, suddenly alarmed, “We can’t bail out now! _I need you!_ Did you _see_ how long the list is? This isn’t exactly a one-man job, y’know.”

“Well, maybe you should’ve thought of that before placing a two-man wager!” Mugman whipped around and yelled, “It was never _my_ idea to go into that casino. I never even placed one bet! The only reason I even tagged along was to make sure _you_ didn’t get yourself into trouble, but look where we are now! You’ve gotten us _both_ in trouble! My soul was never yours to gamble away, Cuphead!”

“Wha- Hey, now!” Cuphead instinctively became defensive, “It’s not like I did it just for myself! I was thinking about you and the old man, too! You know how great our lives would’ve been if we’d won? We’d have our own stinkin’ casino, we’d be rich! I’m sorry, but it was a chance in a lifetime that I just couldn’t pass up. You understand, right?”

But he couldn’t understand. Mugman just couldn’t understand how he could’ve taken such a huge risk on his behalf. Was Cuphead really that selfish?

“Don’t you lie to me,” Mugman spat, “You bet my soul in a game of dice. You weren’t thinking about me at all. If you were, you would’ve actually listened to me when I said ‘Cuphead, don’t do it,’ or ‘Cuphead, this is a bad idea!’ and we would’ve never been in this situation!” Mugman could feel his eyes start to water, but he suppressed the urge to cry. “Did… Did you even care what you were dragging _me_ into? Did you care about me?”

“Mugman, I… Oh, man,” Cuphead realized, “I really _did_ mess up this time, didn’t I?” All of the guilt that he’d been trying to ignore had hit him like a ton of bricks; seeing Mugman so upset just reminded Cuphead that this really _was_ all his fault. He planned to make it up to him somehow if they survive. “Listen, I-”

“Do you care about me?” Mugman repeated. He was not about to let Cuphead avoid the question so easily. He needed some form of reassurance that Cuphead wasn’t the careless jerk that he seemed to be.

“Of course I care about you,” Cuphead admitted, “You’re my brother.”

“Then why dontcha act like it?”

Again, Cuphead was at a loss for words. He stood there, trying to think of a valid answer to give. In truth, there was no real reason for Cuphead’s selfish nature; not a reason that he could ever admit to at least. When he couldn’t respond, Mugman realized that there was no point in standing around waiting for an answer, but Cuphead wasn’t about to let him turn around and run off again.

“Mugs, wait!” Cuphead extended his arm and ran up to him. He closed his eyes and took a long breath before continuing. “Listen…” He put a comforting hand on Mugman’s shoulder, “Ya got every right to be mad at me right now. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if after this, you would never want to speak to me again. But for now, we gotta stick together. It’s the only way we’re gonna get out of this mess. _My_ mess. Whaddya say?”

Mugman was taken away by Cuphead’s endearing smile, the remorseful look in his eyes. When he looked at him, he knew that Cuphead was truly filled with regret: any brother who cared _would_ be. It was almost enough to convince Mugman to stay.

Almost.

“I’m sorry,” Mugman muttered, “But I don’t think I can clean up after another one of your messes. I just can’t.” As Mugman walked away, he felt Cuphead’s hand slip off of his shoulder. He continued his path home. Once he was absolutely sure that there was no turning back, he gave himself permission to cry. It was nothing more than a quiet sob with some sniffles here and there; he was saving the real waterworks for when he got home.

Cuphead found himself unable to do anything, no matter how bad he wanted to stop him. There was nothing left to say, nothing that he could do to make him stay. His mind and his mouth disagreed with each other; everything he wanted to say swarmed in his head while he could barely make a sentence. He needed to stop, he was overthinking this. He had to find a different approach. He couldn’t let this happen.

He knew what to say.

“Wait!” he yelled. At least _that_ was enough to make Mugman stop in his tracks. It didn’t mean that he was ready to look him in the eye, but it was a good start. “I-If you’re not gonna do this for me, then…then do it for _yourself!"_

With Cuphead’s voice echoing in the air, Mugman’s eyes widened. He couldn’t see how helping Cuphead fix his mess would be “doing it for himself” at all. Then again, Mugman wasn’t thinking all too clearly at that moment, so maybe Cuphead knew what he was talking about. He had two options to face; he could walk away and ignore whatever lies he tried to sell him or he could stop and listen to what he had to say. Mugman chose the latter, deciding that he had nothing else left to lose.

“Myself?” he questioned.

“Don’t you remember?” Cuphead started, “If those souls aren’t collected, then _both_ of us have to pay the price! This isn’t about fixing _my_ mistakes. This is about making sure that neither of us have to serve _that_ long-horned palooka for the rest of our lives! Er… afterlives, I guess.”

“Cuphead…”

“Think about it,” Cuphead said, “If I go out there alone, there’s no chance of me making it outta there alive! They’ll tear me to shreds and unless _you_ were to pick up where I left off, we’d be goners. Our only way outta this is if we look out for each other. Trust me, if I could let ya go home, I would, but I can’t face them alone.”

Mugman didn’t want to hear any of it, but he knew that Cuphead was right. Whether he liked it or not, his soul was still on the line. He felt like a fool for thinking that he could simply go home; of _course_ it wouldn’t be that simple. Sure, Mugman was furious at him, but he couldn’t let Cuphead die out there; he never wanted to wish death upon anyone. He had to win his soul back somehow and he wouldn’t be getting it back by holding grudges. Before turning around to meet Cuphead, he wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Frankly, I don’t think I have a choice.” Mugman consented.

“That’s the spirit!” Cuphead exclaimed, “I mean, uh, don’t worry about it! I’m sure that if we watch each other’s back, beatin’ these guys’ll prove to be a piece of cake!”

Mugman was back to following Cuphead as he took his rightful place in the lead. Only this time, they were suffocated by this newfound tension in the air. Both of them were quieter than ever; there was simply not much left to say. Cuphead could apologize as much as he wanted, Mugman could yell and scold him with no restraints, but it wouldn’t fix the mess they were in.

“Mugman,” Cuphead broke the silence, “If we make it out of this alive, I promise I’ll make it up to you someday.”

“There’s a small problem with that,” Mugman blurted out.

“Which is?”

“If we make it out of this alive, I’m never speaking to you again.”

The point was as cold and sharp as a knife buried in the snow for too long. Cuphead felt like he’d been stabbed in the chest, but he felt as if he deserved it. However, he refused to simply give up on him just because he was angry. Cuphead vowed to do everything he could to repay the personal debt he owed Mugman. He was _going_ to make it up to him if it was the last thing he did.

“Fair enough.”


End file.
